Community & Education: Student Corps

GM Student Corps Inspires Communities

DETROIT–Introduced in May 2013, GM Student Corps continued this summer with an all time high of 130 Metro Detroit and Flint students from 13 high schools with paid internships and the opportunity to give back to their neighborhoods.

Student Corps provides high school students with paid internships and the opportunity to give back to their neighborhoods through community improvement projects they plan and complete themselves. The students develop valuable work, life and leadership skills while revitalizing under-served and distressed neighborhoods.

“One by one, Student Corps is changing the equation that defines these young lives,” said Mark Reuss, executive vice president of GM Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “For many students, this internship is their first job, addressing an immediate financial need while putting them on a path to success.”

This year, the Flint team is renovating the historically significant Berston Fieldhouse, the Hamtramck team will launch a recycling program, Osborn students in Detroit will clean and landscape their school’s courtyard, Pontiac students will assemble bicycles for under-served youth, and other teams will revitalize their schools and local parks with fresh paint and landscaping, gazebos and benches.Teams also will develop plans to donate several hundred One World Futbols – ultra-durable soccer balls that never need a pump or go flat, even when punctured. Chevrolet is the founding sponsor of One World Play Project, creator of the One World Futbol.

The program also provides job training and college preparation, professional and career development and leadership and life lessons. Topics include personal finance, banking and budgeting, decision making, effective communication and conflict resolution, health and safety, applying to college, and job interviewing.